The EMR Challenge, Part 4 - SOAPware Action Plan

This morning, I shared a very gratifying GoToMeeting with a practice who recently went live with SOAPware 2010. This site has 13 primary care physicians who seem to really have a focus on serving their community with excellence. I was stunned to learn how elegantly they had used Microsoft Project to manage their implementation. Equally stunning was their use of a macro program, Macro Express Pro to make routine work flows more efficient. This validated the hard work and passion we are directing toward a somewhat revolutionary approach to EMR implementation. Below is an overly concise summary of our implementation initiative:

1. Publish an EMR implementation project plan (Guide/Milestones, etc.)
2. Create a phased implementation process that brings immediate value today, with an incremental progression to the more comprehensive, advanced EMR functionalities needed in the future.
3. Create adequate awareness of the importance of implementation planning within the entire practice team (i.e. have adequate communication and measure the effectiveness of intra-practice communications).
4. Across the nation, create a network of implementation service providers because 60% of EMR users will need at least some on-site facilitation.
5. Utilize virtual and remote implementation tools and services as much as possible to reduce costs.
6. Create instruments to identify EMR sites needing more active facilitation.
7. Change SOAPware pricing/marketing to allow for the implementation processes to be adequate to meet individual practice's needs.
8. Simplify the graphical user interface and work flows, and increase the speed in the EMR.
9. Simplify the data entry process in the EMR. (Add more organization to the structured content; Remote scribe project)
10. Incorporate outside, structured data into the EMR as much as possible. (Personal Health Records, Instant Medical History, Health Information Exchanges, etc.)

We are now exploring the architecting of a monthly EMR pricing model where initial, up-front costs are insignificant. Then monthly pricing, the first few months, is likely to be somewhere in the $200 to $500 per month range (i.e. for EMR and PMS) depending on whether we host the practice's software/server or the end user obtains their own server. This model builds in an ability for our implementation partners to offer the services to assess the practice's implementation needs, etc. If the practice meets the implementation milestones during the first few months, the monthly pricing will drop to minimal levels going forward. If the practices can't get the implementation process going and are not meeting milestones, then the higher monthly pricing will persist for as long as it takes in order for our Partner Network to intervene and help them cross the chasm.
Make sense?